Caymmi became a controversial figure, not at home in the Tropicalia scene nor in the protest song movement. Only marginally successful, she found work singing in Portuguese language nightclubs outside of Brazil in South America. In the 1980s, she recorded several albums for EMI and appeared in the 1983 documentary Bahia de Todos os Sambas. In the 1990s, she became more successful in the mainstream with her album Bolero, which was her first of several gold albums. In 1995 and 1998, she was named Best Female Singer of the Year by the APCA.[1] In 2010, the French film director Georges Gachot released a documentary film, Rio Sonata, about Caymmi.